Why Does Chance the Rapper Always Wear a “3” Hat?

“I wanted to put something else on the hat,” he explained to GQ. Watch The Voice on NBC.

As a Coach on The Voice, Chance the Rapper brings his valuable mentorship and signature style to the show. That style includes his iconic “3” hat.

In case you haven’t noticed, Chance has been regularly sporting different variations of a baseball cap with the number “3” on it during the vast majority of his public appearances. But why, exactly, does he choose this attire? The exact reason is pretty interesting.

Why does Chance the Rapper always wear a “3” hat?

Chance the Rapper performs at Way out West on August 12, 2022 in Gothenburg, Sweden. Photo: Julia Reinhart/WireImage

Chance the Rapper’s hat-wearing days started when he was just a teenager. “I used to always rock a cap when I was in high school and get them taken away. It was an excessive amount. Like, so often that at the end of each school year, there would be a box of all the confiscated caps. After they gave back a few caps to other kids, they would just give me the box because the rest were all my hats. So I think, in one part, it’s a rebellion,” he told GQ.

But when it comes to the origins of the “3” symbol specifically, it has to do with his third project, 2016’s Coloring Book.

“I wanted to put something else on the hat,” he said. “And so I decided to do ‘3’. I just thought that that made the most sense because it was the third project. Also, I was having a lot of trouble figuring out what the title of the project was going to be and what typography to put the title in. The original title for the project was, uh, The Magnificent Coloring Book. But that’s just so many words and it looks so shitty, no matter how I put it on the hat.”

The hat also has a sentimental meaning. “I’ve rationalized it to myself that it stands for the third mixtape, the holy trinity, and the three-pronged family of myself, my daughter, and my girl,” he said.

Chance the Rapper talks being on The Voice

Chance The Rapper for The Voice season 25. Photo: Art Streiber/NBC

Chance opened up about his experience on TODAY in March 2023. “I feel like the other Coaches were so welcoming,” he said fondly.

He added, “My main goal on being on the show is trying to help the other Artists bring themselves out of their performances. I wanna give people the opportunity to show their identity, to tell their story through song. It’s not so much about turning them into an Artist but just giving them a platform to be themselves, sing the songs they grew up listening to, really just present themselves fully.”

Watch Chance the Rapper on The Voice on NBC Mondays at 8/7c, Tuesdays at 9/8c, and next day on Peacock.